As House Republicans prepare to vote on H.R. 1 this week, environmental advocates warned Monday that the sprawling package of fossil fuel-friendly legislation would worsen the climate emergency and biodiversity destruction while saddling U.S. households with higher energy bills. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams H.R. 1, misleadingly titled the “Lower Energy Costs Act” and dubbed the “Polluters Over People […]
The Biden administration on Tuesday sued two corporations behind a petrochemical plant in Louisiana, arguing that the facility poses “unacceptably high cancer risks” to the low-income and predominantly Black residents of nearby communities and demanding significant cuts in toxic pollution. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams On behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the […]
Three weeks after the lives of East Palestine, Ohio residents were upended by a fiery wreck involving a Norfolk Southern-owned train overloaded with hazardous materials, rail union leaders on Friday implored federal regulators and lawmakers to “focus on the primary reasons for the derailment and take immediate action to prevent future disasters.” By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams […]
The campaign to oust Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber from his role as president-designate of the forthcoming United Nations climate summit ratcheted up this week after the fossil fuel corporation he oversees announced record profits along with plans to expand. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) raked in $802 million in […]
Since the seven Colorado River Basin states failed again last week to reach a consensus on a plan to conserve the region’s dwindling water resources, environmental justice campaigners have implored officials to prioritize combating the “overuse and abuse” of water by agribusiness and fossil fuel corporations. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New […]
A trio of advocacy groups on Thursday urged the U.S. Interior Department to do more to fix the nation’s “broken oil and gas leasing system.” Hundreds of progressive organizations, including Public Citizen, have called on President Joe Biden’s administration to halt fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams But Public Citizen, Project […]
Environmental justice advocates cried foul after it was reported that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is allowing a fracking giant to resume drilling operations in Dimock just two weeks after it accepted responsibility for poisoning the small rural town’s drinking water. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams Roughly 14 years after a well explosion on New Year’s Day […]
Hours before the first round of negotiations to advance a global plastics treaty concluded Friday in Punta Del Este, Uruguay, the leader of the United Nations implored countries “to look beyond waste and turn off the tap on plastic.” By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams “Plastics are fossil fuels in another form,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted, “and […]
Because Australia’s efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef from damages wrought by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis, pollution, and overfishing are falling short, the planet’s largest coral reef system should be placed on a list of World Heritage sites considered “in danger,” a pair of experts said Monday. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams The bleeching of the […]
Leftist Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vowed Wednesday to halt deforestation of the Amazon and to establish a special ministry to protect Indigenous forest dwellers from human rights abuses. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams During a speech at the United Nations COP27 climate conference in Egypt—his first on the international stage since he defeated Brazil’s outgoing far-right president, […]
Ugandan climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate denounced world leaders Tuesday for continuing to support new coal, oil, and gas projects despite overwhelming evidence that extracting and burning more fossil fuels will exacerbate deadly climate chaos. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams “The focus for many leaders is about making deals for fossil fuel lobbyists, surviving the next election cycle, and grabbing […]
The worldwide supply of electricity from clean energy sources must be doubled by the end of the decade to limit global temperature rise—or else there is an increased risk that worsening extreme weather disasters turbocharged by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis will further diminish energy security and even imperil renewable By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams […]
The U.S. West is bracing for a potentially record-shattering heatwave through Labor Day weekend, with experts warning that scorching temperatures are likely to trigger a spike in heatstroke and deaths and set the stage for a possibly catastrophic fire season this fall. Extreme heat—”supercharged” by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis, as environmental scientist Jonathan Overpeck put it—has […]
As many as 180,000 people in Jackson, Mississippi will not have access to safe running water for the foreseeable future, state officials said Monday night—the latest manifestation of a longstanding crisis in which the city’s residents have been made to suffer the consequences of chronically underfunded infrastructure, compounded by a worsening climate emergency. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams […]
Pakistan declared a national emergency on Friday as catastrophic monsoon rains, exacerbated by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis, continued to pummel the country for the third consecutive month. By Kenny Stancil Common Dreams Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of global carbon emissions, and is currently the country most drastically affected by the catastrophe we are already […]